Rocky relations.

The article discusses relations between South Korea and Japan. A long and tedious disagreement over sovereignty erupted into open anger recently after Shimane, a Japanese prefecture, passed a bill designating February 22nd as "Takeshima day", to mark the date in 1905 when Japan first claimed some volcanic islets that lie between Korea, where they are known as Tokdo, and Japan, where they are called Takeshima. Outraged South Koreans responded with a show of nationalistic fervour. The government fulminated that Japan's claim was tantamount to invasion. Despite four decades of ever-closer bilateral ties, and trade now worth almost $70 billion, Japan and South Korea have notoriously prickly relations. Although the first historical references identify the islands as belonging to an ancient Korean kingdom, after Japan's annexation of the peninsula at the beginning of the 20th century they became part of its imperial territory until the end of the second world war. Beyond wounded pride, South Korea has some economic reasons for maintaining its claim.